Legislators ramp up solutions to Highway Trust Fund crisis

By |  April 20, 2015

A number of legislators are working to solve the Highway Trust Fund crisis.

Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) introduced a bill which would index the gas tax to inflation and establish a Highway Trust Fund “supercommittee” to find a long-term funding solution by September 2016. According to the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), the gas tax would increase the user fee by 4 cents.

Reps. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) sent a letter to leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Ways and Means committees urging them to look at their Infrastructure 2.0 Act as a solution, reports NSSGA. The act would use international corporate tax reform to patch the Highway Trust Fund for six years. It would also create a $50 billion infrastructure fund for state and local governments.

In addition, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a bill that would offer multinational corporations a tax holiday on their overseas earnings. This would allow them to bring home offshore profits at a 6.5 percent tax rate, with the proceeds filling the Highway Trust Fund gap.

Allison Kral

About the Author:

Allison Kral is the former senior digital media manager for North Coast Media (NCM). She completed her undergraduate degree at Ohio University where she received a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She works across a number of digital platforms, which include creating e-newsletters, writing articles and posting across social media sites. She also creates content for NCM's Portable Plants magazine, GPS World magazine and Geospatial Solutions. Her understanding of the ever-changing digital media world allows her to quickly grasp what a target audience desires and create content that is appealing and relevant for any client across any platform.

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